My Rose
by Orange Headphones
Summary: Looking back, I see just how I came to love Amy.
1. Sonic's Flashback

I look back and I say to myself, "How did I end up with her?" I know that she always loved me, but I never knew what I thought of her. I guess I just took it for granted that she loved me; I thought she always would and that I'd get around to figuring out whether or not I loved her. In the meantime, I just kept running away.

I guess you might want to know who I am. Well, if you got a good look at me, you'd know who I am. Every night, I make sure that I tell her, "I Love you, Amy Rose." That's right; it's me, Sonic the Hedgehog. Even I have my soft spot, especially for Amy.

I figure that I should start at the beginning. Back then, which was maybe three or four years ago (I don't really know), I kept running from Amy. This one day, I realized that she no longer was chasing me around. So I stopped and looked around me, hoping that I was just too fast for her.

As I waited for her to come around within sight, she didn't come. I knew that she definitely wasn't out of shape; after all, she chased me around every day, maybe twice a day if she was lucky. After waiting another minute, I did something that I hadn't done for a long while; I walked around and gathered my thoughts.

Even though I usually rely on quick reflexes and thinking on the fly, I found out that pausing and contemplating can sometimes be much more effective. That day, I walked with one hand on my chin and continued to walk back to where I was. When I got back home, the only thing I had been able to think about was Amy.

I went back and forth with myself, trying to figure out what I thought was love. Was it something physical? Was it something more? What did she have to do with it? If I did love her, how would I show it? Would she still love me back? Why is it on my mind?

Since I was more irrational and quick-tempered back then, I threw my hands up in the air and tore at the quills on the back of my head. Impulsively, I just ran, hoping to get my mind off things. Love was something much too deep for me to think about at that time. It wasn't that I was tired (Eggman hadn't attacked in months), but I just didn't have the patience to think about something that wasn't plainly obvious.

Though I may have felt stupid about doing it at the time, I went over to where I knew Amy lived. Her place wasn't very large or fanciful, but it just suited Amy perfectly; thank goodness it wasn't a shrine devoted to me, not too sound cocky. (That would have been just a little too creepy.) The pink and red scattered throughout the outside was a little too much for my tastes (I couldn't stand things being far from simple).

After she came outside to meet me, she seemed very surprised to see me. Upon seeing me, her eyes grew wide, and she asked me, "Sonic, what are you doing here?"

I had nothing to say, but, "I don't know."

She seemed confused, but that didn't stop her from saying, "Well, why don't you come inside then?"

Just as it would have fit me back then, I told her, "Amy, I don't have the time to just sit around and talk."

I could tell that she was starting to get a little annoyed with me, as she asked, "Then why did you come here, Sonic?"

I don't know how I got around to doing it, but I asked her, "I noticed you quit chasing me earlier than usual yesterday. Why?"

She sighed audibly. "Sonic, why does everything have to be about you? I quit running after you, because I realized that you're just going to keep running away from me. I'll tell you this: I won't come chasing after you. The next time one of us comes chasing after the other, you'll be chasing after me. We'll see how it goes from there."

I realize now that I had asked the wrong question, but then I didn't quite realize why she pushed me away then, effectively throwing me out for a while. I feel a little guilty to say this, but I almost celebrated to hear that Amy wouldn't be chasing after me again.

Even with that indignant attitude of mine, my mind still drifted back to her and the issue of love at the least expected times. I run laps in the morning to clear my head and make sure that I'm ready and alert for the day; that habit started before I'd even met Amy. It was just a little bit of an escape from ordinary life. However, every time I went running, the thought of Amy still came back to me. I just couldn't shake it; it was if it had become another part of my routine, and I couldn't stand it at all.

Thank goodness I run my laps out into areas that are relatively deserted, because otherwise people would have seen my childish behavior of stopping after my laps were done and grabbing at the quills on the back of my head. If I wanted it, Amy would be out of my life. However, I couldn't do that; she was too good of a friend to just stop seeing altogether. She may have been a little strange and obsessive, but she was still a really loyal friend.

This cycle just continued to go on. I wished so desperately for my mind to stop me from going back to Amy Rose in such a frustrating way. But it was if my mind knew something that I myself didn't know; it's so apparent now. If I hadn't been thinking about Amy so much, I definitely wouldn't have been able to sort out some of the more difficult questions I had to ask myself.

One day, I actually did something mature and actually sat down and thought about what I was doing. I thought long and hard those questions that I had asked myself when Amy had stopped chasing me. I didn't come to any concrete solutions, but at the very least I had stopped being so childish that I couldn't actually stop and think. Though I never got anywhere, I found it somewhat refreshing to just sit and think about these deeper things. I at least felt at peace.

That day, I'm sure I actually sat and thought longer than I had actually been running, just judging that it looked to be about noon when I actually sat up and decided to go back to civilization. However, I saw something that I never expected to see when I came on my way back.


	2. A New Element

I may not have known what love was, but I was sure that I knew what jealousy was. As I returned to the city, I saw Amy again, but much to my surprise she was sitting, just talking, with the hedgehog (aside from my metal counterpart) that I would consider my greatest rival: Shadow.

Ever since he came along, there was just something about him that I couldn't put my finger on. It wasn't that I thought he was going to go and turn on us; I learned that well during the time on Space Colony ARK. No, it was just something about his personality that I didn't like; I wasn't sure what it was, but I knew that once I saw it that I didn't want him to be the one that Amy went after.

Still, that day I could do nothing, not even listen to their conversation. Instead, I went home that night, completely dumbstruck by what I saw there, not knowing what had just happened to me. I, at the very least, concluded that I must have _something_ for Amy, but I wasn't sure what it was exactly.

From there, I had a legitimate resolve to try and win Amy's heart back from Shadow. I knew I'd had it before, but then I felt that I couldn't just demand to have Amy love me; this time, I'd have to earn the love and respect of this lovely young hedgehog.

Unfortunately, the way I guess I'd won her heart before had to do mainly with my battles against Eggman and my attempts to save the world and my friends from eminent danger. Now, Eggman was nowhere around, so I'd have to learn to charm Amy my own way, to drive her away from Shadow.

I may have acted childish then, but I wasn't about to try and purposely harm Shadow. No, I'd lost Amy through my own fault, and through only my own effort would I earn her back. If I really did love her then, I knew that I'd have to earn her love back; also doing something to try and hurt her relationship with Shadow would only put me in worse straits with her.

As Amy had predicted, I was the one chasing after her next. The next morning, I saw her leaving her home, when I figured that I should, at the very least, apologize for what I'd done. After all, I'd been a complete jerk to her for years, and I was finally starting to realize it.

Then, from out of nowhere, I saw her again. From her bright and warm jade-green eyes to her high-heeled boots, she was everything that I wanted in a girl. Her pink hue captured her bright and lighthearted spirit. The red dress she always wore gracefully fit her form, modestly allowing me to see her slim figure. If I saw her smile, it meant the whole world to me. She hasn't changed a bit since then.

"AMY!" I yelled to her, knowing that if I didn't catch her soon, I wouldn't get the chance to talk to her.

For a moment, Amy turned around, eyes aflutter. However, after she realized it was me, her glance was not as caring. Instead, she resolvedly turned back to where she was going and continued to move along.

That was nothing that could stop me, so I ran over to her, catching up to her in a second. "Hey, Amy," I spoke, trying to be as soft and loving as I could muster at the time, but I have a feeling that it ended up as a mixture of impatience and irritation.

Annoyed, she said, "What is it, Sonic?" I see that this was not the time to try and ask Amy something personal, but then again, I was younger and completely inexperienced in the world of love.

I bowed my head, both out of a feeling of shame and unworthiness, but she didn't see that, because she was still looking ahead and I was merely to her side. "Amy," I said nearly begging, "I'm sorry. I've been a jerk to you, and I want to know if you'll forgive me. Please, Amy?"

Completely unaffected by what I had just said, Amy said, "Sonic, I'm sure that you're sorry, and I won't hold anything you've done against you, but you've crossed me one too many times. Shadow's the one that I'm after now, and unlike you, he actually seems to care."

I was nearly destroyed by those harsh comments by Amy. There I was, resolved to try to make myself look better in her eyes (as well as my own), and she just shot me down completely. I was barely able to choke out, "Amy…I…I…." Resigning at that point, I concluded, "You do deserve someone better than me."

Amy just walked onwards. If I were to regain her affection, it would take nothing short of a miracle. I'd have to do everything in my power to try and win her back. I was done thinking about love, because if what I felt wasn't love, then it was, at the very least, a strong infatuation for her. At that time, that was good enough for me.

Whether or not it would work out, I stubbornly resolved to work out everything in this regard for myself. Amy was worth my full attention, but it sadly seemed that the only thing that could really benefit me would be another attack from Eggman; at least if that happened, I could quit thinking about that sadness for a moment and focus on something that I was sure would have brought at least some affection back to me. However, I was on my own, and I wasn't about to give up my newfound pursuit of Amy without a fight. She was just worth too much to so easily let go if I had something to say about it.

So I went out to try and do something for Amy, but I couldn't put my mind on what to do for her. Without a real idea in mind, I kept racing through random partial thoughts and half-ideas. I never did reach a sure conclusion, but I knew that I'd figure something out when I saw Amy next.

As the sun rose, I again set out on my laps, but I could only do them half-heartedly while I was searching for my first outlet of trying to win Amy back. It was definitely one of the most frustrating times in my life, simply because I didn't know what I was doing. Love, or at least the pursuit of a girl, was something I was new to.

When I saw her next, it struck me. If I was in love with her, which I thought I might be, I'd have to give her a sign that I was in love with her. The only thing I knew that people did when they were in love was kiss, so I ran up to her and so I quickly ran up to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

When she turned around, I don't exactly know how she first reacted to my rash kiss. In retrospect, it was probably a bad kiss, because it was my first one. I didn't think about how I would do it, because I quickly closed my eyes and put my lips on hers quickly and rather nervously.

When I drew away from her, she definitely had a puzzled look on her face. Perhaps with such an unexpected action, I had opened some idea that had been lying dormant in her mind for years. I hoped she'd react in a way similar to that one, and I thought I had shown her something.

In surprise, she softly said, "I didn't know you cared, Sonic."

I smiled and told her, "I didn't either. It's just something about you, Amy Rose."


End file.
